December 31st 2012

Back to Benares


I'm back home. Home? I'm back in Benares, after a ten day "vacation" or excursion in Rajashthan, and coming back to Benares feels a lot like coming back home. For now anyway, Benares is home.

I love the holidays. I love the special drinks that Starbucks features each season, I love watching Elf and It's a Wonderful Life with my sister, I love shopping for Christmas presents, I love waking up to a stocking stuffed with reese's peanut butter cups, and I love eating my mom's prime rib (that's right, cow) for Christmas dinner. My favorite tradition that my family has is making and then eating a huge breakfast for dinner feast on Christmas Eve. This year, on the evening of December 24th, I found myself not in my California kitchen, but on an overnight bus going from Jaisalmer to Jaipur. Besides the fact that I was more than a thousand miles away from where I wanted to be on that night, I wasn't a big fan of the bus. The seats were stuck at an awkward angle, the bus itself didn't smell great, the seats weren't as cushioned as I would have preferred, and it was inhumanely cold as the bus was not properly insulated. I was not in the holiday spirit on Christmas Eve. I wouldn't have thought a year ago, that on an overnight bus in India was where I'd be spending my next Christmas Eve, and this holiday season wasn't filled with the traditions that I'm used to. But I have to admit that, contrary to my dismal description of how I spent Christmas Eve, I would say that I had a great holiday season. It wasn't
ideal, but it was, surprisingly, pretty fun.

Rajashthan is an amazing state. In Jodhpur we embodied the typical tourist with audio tour headsets when we toured the Maharangarh fort. The fort was beautiful, and overlooked the blue city that is Jodhpur. After touring the fort, Hannah, Mackenzie, and I wandered aimlessly through the alleys of the city and into bangles shops, shoe shops, and Rajashthani clothing shops. I may have bought too many bangles, but I really enjoyed wandering through the alleys and experiencing a city so different from Benares.

In Jaisalmer, we stayed INSIDE a fort. But the most exciting part about our stay in Jaisalmer was riding camels through the desert. The camels weren't as comfortable as I thought they'd be, and they're much uglier than llamas, but our desert camel safari was amazing. I had never seen sand dunes before, or slept under the stars in the desert. It was a really amazing experience.

Jaipur was more of a city than Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. We visited the Amber palace, which was really beautiful. But the best part of Jaipur was...RIDING ELEPHANTS. We rode elephants up a hill to the Amber Palace. Within a 2 week spanse I saw an elephant on the streets of Benares (the first one I've seen outside of a zoo) and ridden on one. I'd call that an accomplishment.

Today is the first day of 2013!! I have several "resolutions" and I'm excited for this next year. At the beginning of 2012 I thought I'd be in college by September, but here I am spending a gap year in India. So we'll see how 2013 goes.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog once every two weeks, so I'll (hopefully) be posting soon!

Until next time

Ada

Oh, and I will post pictures eventually, but there are great pictures on facebook if anyone's interested!!

December 14th 2012

The Holiday Season


It's 11 days 'till Christmas, and I feel like I'm one of the few counting down here. The weather changed overnight, to what I would describe as cold. Although I didn't do a great job in packing for the cold back in August, I'm really loving the weather because it reminds me that it's the holiday season. I haven't watched Elf, made pumpkin muffins, or played Christmas songs on the piano, but I have managed to buy my family Christmas presents, and draw Christmas trees, snowmen, etc. on every piece of paper in my Hindi notebook. So that's good enough for me.



Since I last blogged (which was too long ago, sorry mom), I have had some really great experiences and some not so great experiences. I've been asked "How's India?" a lot recently and I don't know how to reply to that question anymore. I can describe India on any given day as nearly every adjective except for maybe "clean." So I'll try to give everyone a depiction of my "not so great" and "great."



The not so great: It's Tuesday, around 4 PM, the third and final bike ride of the day, heading home from the Guria after school center. I pass Maudawadi railroad crossing just after the center, which is jammed as usual. I make it out of the traffic and begin to ride my bike again, when I feel the back of my bike seriously jolt. I stop, get off, can't see anything wrong, and continue on the route home. But something is wrong. I can't be THAT tired on JUST Tuesday. I'm really struggling to pedal. Then it's
as if my back tire is repeatedly riding over a sharp bump in the road. I stop once again, assess the situation, STILL don't see anything wrong, hopelessly unravel some caught string, and attempt to continue. But I can't continue; I can barely pedal. So I dismount again, and reassess the situation more carefully, and finally figure out the problem: my bike tire is completely flat. At this point, I'm far away from Assi, which is where I want to be.
Begrudgingly, and on the brink of tears, I accept that I have to walk at least until I find a mechanic. So I begin the journey and the search. I go through the list of landmarks to mark my progress as I walk. After much walking I hit the "crazy intersection." I haven't found a mechanic yet. More walking, squeezing myself and my bike to the side of the road to avoid oncoming traffic until I hit the "Red temple" where I make a "Right." Still no mechanic. I continue on, suppressing my frustration, I hit the fancy fruit stand, and still no mechanic to be found. I hit the rest of my landmarks: Kerala Cafe, IP Vijya Mall, and the blue sign pointing to Assi. And I'm in Assi. I don't find a mechanic until I make it all the way back, after I've walked my bike for around an hour.
During the journey home, I couldn't help but think about what I WOULD be doing at home in America. Ideal images of sitting by the fire, decorating the Christmas tree, and eating food that's not subji, roti, daal, chaval, filled my head. I asked myself during that walk why I had decided to come to India. And even in the midst of my frustration, I had to admit that I came to India because I wanted to come to India, and I'm here because I want to be here. The point is, when I have one of these "not so great experiences," I try to put things in perspective, laugh about whatever I'm upset over (because I know an angry-looking foreigner walking her bike through a crowded street would probably be funny to an Indian), and remember why I'm here.



The great: I think I made friends. When I moved into my homestay, I met 4 girls that live on the same floor as me, all studying at Benares Hindu University. And for a long time I didn't say much to them, and they didn't say much to me, besides for the customary "hi"'s, "bye"'s, "how are you?"'s and "I'm fine."'s. I was intimidated by them, and I didn't think they liked the American girl that lived in their "hostel" too much. But as my host family has been away on trips off and on, I've found myself around them, and talking to them.
About a week ago, I was in one of their rooms, sitting on her bed, using her blankets. We were just talking. Talking about our families and friends, things we liked and didn't like,
boys, school, and life in general. During the conversation I realized that I wasn't talking to "one of the BHU girls," I was talking to my friend Prachi. So now my interactions with them extend past "how are you?" and that's pretty exciting for me.



We went to Khajuraho, to see the famous temples constructed during the 9th-12th centuries. The temples were beautiful, and because I know I won't be able to describe what they look like, I've included pictures (though they're much more impressive in real life). Be warned, the temples depict erotic images, and so do my pictures.

On the way back from Khajuraho we ended up in sleeper class on an 8 hour train ride, jamming five people onto a one-person bunk, making sleep nearly impossible. And ironically, I thought it was fun. Work has continued at Guria. Hannah and I are working on the Guria blog (guriafreedomnow.blogspot.com), a facebook page, a grant, and teaching the kids at the center typing and English. Teaching English has really made me appreciate that English is my first language. We also recently visited a rural village for a Guria concert of marginalized artists.

But I love teaching the kids. One of the highlites of my week was when a few of the girls ran up to Hannah and I and eagerly asked if we could have English class that day.



We are leaving for Rajashthan on Monday. I'm happy to have this ten day break from biking, and I'm very excited for our
desert camel safari.


Until next time

Oh, and Happy Hanaukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays from India!!!

Ada